Learnlife’s Eco Hub wins the Low-Tech Prize in the prestigious Green Solutions Awards 2022-2023

Learnlife’s Eco Hub, the Passivhaus Classic certified pop-up learning space located in Castelldefels, Spain, has won the Low-Tech Prize in the Green Solutions Awards 2022-2023!

6 experts from the sector analysed the submissions and praised the Eco Hub for the social aspect of its spaces, as well as the non-permanent structure, which blends in with nature and reduces the environmental impact of the building.

Designed by Sol Espoille, with Ramiro Chiaradia as collaborating architect, and Praxis Resilient Buildings delivering Passivhaus Consultancy and Blower Door testing, the Eco Hub is a pioneering learning space, sustainability, and innovation centre, built on the sea front in Castelldefels, near the city of Barcelona. The project provides a scalable, modular, prefabricated construction system for the rapid assembly of healthy learning spaces with good air quality and thermal comfort, fit for warm climates.

Learnlife is an organisation based in Barcelona whose goal is to build an open ecosystem for a new lifelong learning paradigm alongside existing education systems. Christopher Pommerening, Learnlife Founder, said: “We’re honoured to receive this prestigious award. The Eco Hub was designed to provide a learning environment that enables children to flourish, connects with nature and has a positive environmental impact.

“The award recognises this and highlights the possibilities for change in developing purpose-inspired learning spaces that have wellbeing and the environment as pillars of their design.” 

The Eco Hub is built from a series of prefabricated lightweight timber modules, built off-site, and assembled in-situ, installed on screw pile foundations, meaning it can be disassembled in the future, moved, and re-assembled elsewhere. The design team prioritised the use of healthy, low emission materials, with low embodied energy, including internal finishes with low-emission paints on fibreboard made from recycled gypsum and cellulose fibres from post-consumer waste. The module is equipped with a Passivhaus certified Zehnder mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery, and a 2.73 kWp solar PV array that generates around 90% of the building’s energy consumption.

Do you want to build or retrofit a nearly-zero energy learning space with excellent air quality, great comfort, and absurdly low energy bills?

Contact us here and let’s talk through your project.

Photos: Jordi Vila Marta – Argotphoto

Links:

• International Passivhaus Projects database
• Spanish Passivhaus Platform (PEP) project database
• Construction 21 Spain project database
• Learnlife website

Healthy home: materials and indoor air quality

What does indoor air contain?

To live in a healthy environment, we need to look at the products, materials and furniture we have in our home, since we breathe the particles they emit and we are often in direct physical contact with them.

The first step is to choose paints, varnishes, timber, ceramics, textiles, and furniture with a very low emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). VOCs are of both natural and artificial origin. They all share the common characteristic that they are made of carbon and other elements such as hydrogen, halogens, oxygen, or sulphur. They are present in solids or liquids and are either volatile or occur in a gaseous state at room temperature, which means they move quickly around indoor spaces. Some of them modify the chemical composition of their local environment and are harmful to our health.

Formaldehyde, a colourless, volatile, and toxic gas (classified as carcinogenic by the EU), and other VOCs, are often found in paints, paint strippers, wood preservatives, wood products, binders, glues, waxes, plastics, pesticides, aerosols, synthetic carpets, cleaning products, disinfection products and degreasers. Health effects include asthma, eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches, loss of coordination, nausea, liver, kidney and central nervous system damage. VOCs can be endocrine disruptors and cause respiratory and hormonal diseases, prolonged sleep and behavioural disorders, reproductive disorders and foetal development, cancer, and multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS).

Another harmful component to pay close attention to is particulate matter (PM)- fine particles and fibres with a diameter of 10 micrometres (PM10) or less (PM2.5 and PM 1). PM2.5 particles can reach the lungs, and PM1 can reach the bloodstream. Short and long-term exposure to these particles is associated with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including lung cancer. These diseases become more evident when the fibres come from highly toxic materials such as asbestos.

Which are the best materials and products to use in our home?

To avoid and minimize harmful substances inside the home, it’s best to look for products that have been modified or processed as little as possible, made with low-emission paints, varnishes, and glues, formaldehyde free, and if possible, certification for low emissions. Three such certification systems are mentioned below, which classify materials and products and quantify their harmful emissions.

Linoleum or solid wood floors are recommended because they usually contain few adhesives and generally have low emissions. Anything that has been varnished or coated in a controlled factory environment (rather than on-site) will lead to lower emissions in the home. If you use laminated timber flooring, look for one that is free of formaldehyde.

Carpets are in generally not advisable, as they end up collecting all kinds of particles, and in some cases, contain volatile coal ash or polyurethane laminates. Natural fibre carpets are recommended.

Furniture and wood composite products can be a significant source of emissions because they are often made with urea-formaldehyde adhesives. Look for solid wood or plywood furniture, free of formaldehydes. 

As far as kitchen counters go, natural rock is a good option, such as quartz. Alternatively, look for Corian (a synthetic material for solid surfaces composed of acrylic resin and aluminium hydroxide).

As for thermal insulation, exposure to sprayed foam insulation containing isocyanates can cause asthma. If you use fiberglass or mineral wool insulation, make sure it’s formaldehyde free. In general, bio-based or mineral insulation are the healthiest options.

Be careful: products are sometimes sold as “ecological” due to their recycled content, but they can be harmful to your health. For example, some ceramic tiles are made with recycled glass from cathode ray tubes from old TVs, which are considered hazardous waste due to their high lead content.

Emissions & materials: certification systems

1. French certification for indoor air emissions

2. Baubiologie Rosenheim Institute certification

3. Eurofins Indoor Air Comfort certification

The following figure shows measured data from a MICA sensor of formaldehyde concentration in a bedroom over the course of a week.

According to the technical standard of measurement in Baubiologie SBM2015 for rest areas, values above 100 μg/m3 are already extremely significant. “The search for emission sources is a bit like looking for a needle in haystack, based on the data and measurements. But you can gradually discard sources until you find the culprit” says Maria Figols, Project Manager at InBiot.

Better living with less emissions

Creating healthy indoor environments is clearly on the agenda, with the construction sector on centre stage. Choosing the right low-emission materials will improve indoor air quality and can help reduce illness for occupants, in the short, medium, and long term. Using products with some of the certification systems shown above is a good place to start. Alongside emissions, these kind of certification systems also assess the environmental impact of a product, making sure they don’t pose a significant hazard during manufacturing, deconstruction, recycling or waste treatment phases. Reducing the source of indoor contaminants should always be the first step. The second step- and equally important- is controlled and efficient ventilation.

Acknowledgements

To Maria Figols and Xabi Alaez from InBiot for their contributions.

Bibliography

[1] Guía Edificios y Salud, Siete Llaves para un edificio saludable. García de Frutos, Daniel et al. Consejo General de la Arquitectura Técnica de España, Consejo General de Colegios de Médicos. Enero 2020.

[2] Monitorización de vivienda de alta eficiencia, 30 Marzo 2020. InBiot. https://wiki.inbiot.es/monitorizacion-de-vivienda-de-alta-eficiencia/